The Steampunk ExpressThe Imaginarium: Playground for the Creative MindEscape roomIRLGreat room: super immersive and beautiful set, challenging and interesting puzzles. There were a few puzzles or moments that I think could have played more smoothly--a few tweaks to the process elements or refined cluing within the gameplay would remove some unnecessary confusion and frustration. That said, we had a blast ... this is definitely a must play room!
Disease X - CLOSEDLocked A Rochester Escape Room - RochesterEscape roomIRLOne of the worst escape room experiences I've had. The game master (who may have been the owner) seemed more interested in our group of enthusiasts not escaping (even saying "i hope you don't get out"), than helping us or giving us a good experience, to prove his room was so "great" or hard. We were given very emphatic instructions not to use even the slightest of physical force on anything, but then after not escaping were shown that force was indeed required to "solve" one aspect of the game. Also, more alarmingly, one very prominent game component was broken and despite asking for help several times and trying to make it work as intended for 20 minutes were eventually told "oh yeah, that's broken". After the game the GM lied and said he gave us instructions for the broken bit before the game, but obviously was just trying to cover for the fact that he didn't. Moreover, the game itself seemed very much designed to be not just challenging but exceedingly difficult, with bad mechanics, poorly executed puzzles, and too many game elements for the time given.
